Device for laterally displacing grass, hay, or other material lying on the ground



July 19,1960 c. VAN DER LELY ET AL 2,

' DEVICE FOR LATERALLY DISPLACING GRASS, HAY. OR

OTHER MATERIAL LYING ON THE GROUND Ongzmal Flled Dec 3 1953 INIQQTOR'wmg M /4 United States 2,945,339 DEVICE FOR LATERALLY DISPLACING GRASS,

'HAY, OR QTHER MATERIAL LYING ON THE GROUND This invention relates to adevice for laterally displacing grass, hay or other material lying onthe ground comprising a frame having several rake wheels arranged on itin overlapping relation and at an angle to the direction of travel ofthe frame, the rake wheels being provided with circumferential teeth orsimilar catching means and rotated by contact with the ground andmaterial lying thereon. V

In devices of the above mentioned type of rake wheels, when the rakingteeth are rigid and rigidly secured to the wheels, only two teeth, atmost, of each rake wheel will simultaneously be in contact with levelground. The obvious result is that the raking width of such rake wheelsis comparatively narrow. Even when the raking teeth are made resilient,the working width of the'rake wheels remains relatively restrictedunless very large rake wheels are employed. But because of weightconsideration the practicability of increasing the size of the rakewheel is limited.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved raking device withrake wheels of considerably increased working width.

A further object is to provide rake wheels having a deformablecircumference whereby the rake wheels have a flattened part along thesurface of the ground.

An additional object is to provide an improved raking device with asimple frame structure which can be used to advantage in combinationwith a tractor.

With these and other objects which will be understood by those skilledin the art, invention resides in the circumstance, inter alia, thatsupporting members for the raking teeth on the side turned toward theground are situated on lines substantially parallel to the ground for anappreciable distance so that a large number of teeth are simultaneouslyin contact with the ground or material lying thereupon.

This is a division of our application Serial No. 395,- 958, now Patent2,861,413, filed December 3, 1953.

The invention will be explained more in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings in which a practical embodiment of the rakingdevice according to the invention has been illustrated by way of exampleand in which:

Figure 1 shows a plan view of a raking device according to the instantembodiment;

Figure 2 shows one of the raking members of said device on a largerscale, viewed in the direction of the arrow II in Figure 1.

Referring to Figure l of the drawings, a tractor 1, the steerable frontwheels 2 of which are located very near the longitudinal axis 3, isprovided with a support 4 rigidly connected to the frame of the tractorand carrying a supporting member 6. The supporting member 6 isadjustable in height-and may be locked by means of a locking member 7,it being understood that any suitable means for vertically adjusting thesupporting member 6 on the frame may be employed. Said supportingmematent 2 ber 6 has its center line 5 directed forwardly to the left,as shown, and carrying an axle 8 in the same direction. Axle 8 issurrounded by a bushing 9 which is mounted to be rotatable but immovablelongitudinally on axle 8. The bushing 9 is provided with two arms 10*and 11 extending in opposite directions and having their extremities 12and 13 bent forward in the direction of center line 5. Upon theextremities 12 and 13, hubs 14 and 15, respectively, of the rake wheels16 and 17, respectively are freely rotatable. For the purpose of theclaims, the bushing 9 together with arms 10 and 11 and extremities 12and 13 comprise the frame or frame structure for the rake wheels 16 and17.

The construction of rake Wheels 16 and 17 appears from Figure 2 whichrefers in particular to rake wheel 16.

The hub 14 of the rake wheel 16 is connected by spokes 18 to rim 20. Inthe rim 20 a plurality of pins 22 are rotatably mounted. A thinconcentric ring 21 is fixed to the spokes 18 within the rim 20. Thebearings for pins 22 are uniformly distributed along the circumferenceof the rim. Each pin 22 carries a connecting member in the shape of aflat arm 23 fixedly connected to a pin 24. The center lines of all pins22 and 24 are always parallel to the center line of the hub 14. It willbe appreciated that ring 21 may not extend beyond rim 2!) so as toimpede inward motion of arms 23.

Each arm 23 diverges laterally somewhat from its inner to its outer end.In other words, the outer end of each arm 23 is such a distance from theplane of the rim 26 that the outer end can move past the inner end of anadjacent arm, as shown in the lower part of Figure 2. Each pin 24 ishingedly mounted in a bushing 26 provided with a short outwardlyextending strip 25. Bushings 26, being located behind arms 23 in Figure2, are not clearly shown, but it will be understood that any suitablebushings or equivalent may be employed. At points 25a the strips 25 areriveted to toothlike catching means 27 on a supporting member in theshape of an endless band 28 of flat spring steel which is undulated inits plane. Between every two catching means or teeth 27 two undulationsof the band are located. Between every two teeth 27 still another catchmeansor tooth 29 has been riveted upon the band 28.

As appears in the lower part of Figure 2, the elastic band 28 willdeform itself upon bearing the raking member upon the ground in suchmanner that correponding points of the undulated band are locatedsubstantially at the same height above the ground over an appreciabledistance. Consequently, a large number of the teeth, which are supposedto be rather stiff, will simultaneously come into contact with theground and the raking member will thus present a large Working width.

In operation, the rakable material which is delivered to the left byrake wheel 16 (Figure l) by said rake wheel being rotated by contactwith the ground or the rakable substance thereon, is further displacedlaterally together with other material, if any, by rake wheel 17 whichis constructed in the same manner as rake wheel 16.

The rake wheels 16 and 17 balance about axle 8 and consequently restwith a relatively small pressure upon the ground. The forces occurringdue to unevennesses of the terrain are thus distributed over both rakewheels and only half of said forces will act upon each wheel.

The above description and drawing disclose a single embodiment of theinvention, and specific language has been employed is describing thefigures. It will, nevertheless, be understood that no limitations of thescope of the invention are thereby contemplated, and that variousalterations and modifications may be made as would occur to one skilledin the art to which the invention relates.

We claim: a

1. A raking member comprising a hub rotatable about an axis, a rimmember spaced outwardly from said hub and substantially concentrictherewith, connecting means connectingsaid hub and-said rim member, armspivotably connected at one end to said rim member and extendingoutwardly therefrom, an endless undulated resilient band spacedoutwardly from said rim member, said arms being connected at their endopposite from said rim to said band, and a plurality of outwardlyextending individual teeth mounted on said band.

2. A raking member according to 1 wherein said connecting meansconnecting said hub and said rim member are spokes.

3. A raking member according to 1 wherein said arms are hingedlyconnected to said rim means on one end and to said band on the other.

4. A raking member according to 1 wherein said arms extend outwardlyfrom said rim member in a direction substantially tangentially from saidrim member.

5. A raking member comprising a hub rotatable about an axis, a rimmember spaced outwardly from said hub and substantially concentrictherewith, a plurality of spokes rigidly connecting said hub and saidrim member, a plurality of arms hingedly connected at one end to saidrim member each extending substantially tangentially therefrom, anendless resilient band spaced outwardly from said rim member, each ofsaid arms being hingedly connected at its other end to said band, and aplurality of raking teeth attached to said band and extending outwardlytherefrom.

6. A push-type rake attachment for laterally displacing grass, hay orother material lying on the ground comprising a frame structure and atleast two rake Wheels rotatably mounted in overlapping relationship onsaid frame structure, said rake wheels being mounted on projectionsrigid with said frame structure, said rake Wheels each having a huband acentral portion concentric to their hub with flexible means outward ofand around said central portion and connected thereto incorporating aplurality of raking teeth.

7. A device according to 6 having axle means connected to said framestructure and support means for said frame structure connected to atractor, said axle means interconnecting said frame structure and saidsupport means thereby providing support for said frame, and said framebeing rotatable about the longitudinal axis of said axle means.

8. A device for laterally displacing grass, hay or other material lyingon the ground comprising a frame, at least two rake wheels rotatablymounted in overlapping relationship on said frame, at least twoprojections extending from said frame and rigid therewith for mountingsaid rake wheels, the longitudinal axes of said projections beingparallel, each of said rake wheels having a hub, a central portionconcentric to its hub, a plurality of raking teeth spaced concentricallyto said central portion and outwardly with respect thereto, andresilient supporting means for said raking teeth interposed between andinterconnecting said central portion to said raking teeth.

9. A device according to 8 wherein said resilient supporting meansconsists of an endless undulating fiat spring band connected to saidcentral portion by a plurality of connecting arms each hingedlyconnected on one end to said central portion and on the other end tosaid band, said raking teeth being attached to said band.

10. A device for laterally displacing grass, hay or other material lyingon the ground comprising a frame structure, at least two axles rigidlyconnected to said frame structure, rake wheels rotatably mounted on saidaxles, said rake wheels being rotated by their contact with the groundand having substantially parallel axes of rotation, axle'means connectedto said frame structure, and support means for said frame structureconnected to a tractor, said axle means inter-connecting said framestructure and said support means thereby providing support for saidframe and said frame being rotatable about the longitudinal axis of saidaxle means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS HillNov. 3, 1953 Ryan July 12, 1955 OTHER REFERENCES

